The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-02-05
once more by common grief and need
of sympathy.

GAS through the field at eve we went,
And plucked the ripened ears,
We fell out, my wife and 1,
We fell out know not why,
And kissed again with tears.
"For when we came where lies the child,
We lost in earlier years,
There above the little grave.
OIL there above the little grave
We kissed again with tears"
And so, seeing how good is of suffer
ing born, and God makes the wrath of
man to praise him, men have in theory
been disposed to beautify all evil and
pronounce it good. In theory, say,
for when it comes to practice and the
bitter chalice is commended to our own
lips, we are apt to lose our enthusiasm
and make wry faces. 1t is easier to
give than to take medicine, to say to
another, Nov swallow it right down and
you will be better for it y it is bitter
draught after all, and so sorrow is sor-
row and pain is pain we no less feel
the smart though it may subserve our
future gain. Some have gone so far as
to say sin is blessing, but let them be
waylaid, beaten androbbed, or let depre-
dations be committed on their rights
and peace, and they will prefer bless
ings to take a less eHecrable shape. No,
the Word states it rightly when it says,
"The whole creation groaneth and trav-
aileth in pain together until now, and
not only they but ourselves also, groan
within ourselves" The good lies in the
patient waiting for salvation, and "the
manifestation of the children of God"
in our being ''in all these things, more
than conquerors through him that loved
u.s." for above and beyond all this min-
istration of death, is that of the spirit;
the one is transitory, the otheris eternal.
What grand achievements, what rich
increase of life and living would we
obtain if the time and means spent in
undoing evil and battling with the bad,
could be employed altogether in doing
good and upholding the true and beau
tiful in the exercise of spiritual ener-
gies, in the ministration of the spirit
And it is to full realization of this
that the final ministration of death, as
it concerns US, will lead when it con-
ducts us beyond the bounds of time,
out of this everything world, into the
glories of eternity. We instinctively
shrink back from death; it appears, as
the Word puts it, as ''the last enemy"
But it strips away the veil which hides
from our view life and blessedness I'M
known even in visions of enraptured
thought. A Swiss hunter, crossing the
Mer de Glace, fell into one of the chasms
which rend the ice at different points.
He was not seriously injured, but found
all his attempts futile to Chamber out.
A stream Of water ran through the
crevasse, and following it he came to a
dark vaulted chamber, from which no
outlet was visible, but the roaring vor-
tex formed by the waters showed him
they must have way of escape at no
distant point. 1t was an awful alter
native, but it was death to remain; it
could be no worsInto plunge into the
freezing tide. Nsfvihg himself, he
took what might seem fatal leap into
the foaming torrent. There was brief
period Of darkness, of terror and suffo-
cation, and then flood of splendor
burst upon him. Opening his eyes they
fell upon the sunny skies, the verdant
fields and lovely flowers of Chamouni;
while shining like the walls of the
celestial city, crested with rubies and
sapphires, rose the glory crowned noun
tain battlements, and his soul thrilled
with jubilee at his marvellous transit
ton from death to life. So to many,
Deaths cold flood seems surging to en-
gulf them forever, but it's tide will bear
them into the cloudless radiance of the
Paradise of God
LAND ahead! its fruits are waving
Ger the hills of fadeless green,
And the living waters LAYING
Shores where heavenly forms are seen.
Onward, bark, the cape Pm rounding,
See the blessed wave their hands;
Hear the harps of God resounding
From the bright immortal bands"